Warning: ftp_nlist() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 427

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_nlist() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 427

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_nlist() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 427

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_nlist() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 427

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_nlist() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 427

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_nlist() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 427

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_nlist() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 427

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_nlist() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 427

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_nlist() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 427

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_nlist() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 427

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_nlist() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 427

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_nlist() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 427

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_nlist() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 427

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_nlist() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 427

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_nlist() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 427

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_nlist() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 427

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_nlist() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 427

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_nlist() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 427

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230

Warning: ftp_pwd() expects parameter 1 to be resource, null given in /home/customer/www/journeysdream.org/public_html/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-filesystem-ftpext.php on line 230
The Gentle Art Of Spiritual Discernment By Pierre Pradervand

OYM Pierre | Spiritual Discernment

For some of us, finding a deeper understanding of the self will remain lacking without the spiritual dimension. But with so many spiritual paths out there, it can be difficult to find which one best suits us. Guiding you towards an authentic spiritual search, Pierre Pradervand wrote The Gentle Art of Spiritual Discernment, where he shares lessons from his own spiritual journey. In this episode, he gives us a peek into his book along with personal stories that have helped him discover his own path. He guides you with the pitfalls to avoid and the tools to use as you enter into this spiritual quest. From the story of Rohan and Sarala to spiritually transmitted diseases, Pierre gives us so much wisdom to reflect on. So tune in to find inspiration as you take on the journey in search of your own spiritual path.

Listen to the podcast here


 

The Gentle Art Of Spiritual Discernment By Pierre Pradervand

Pierre Pradervand studied at the universities of Geneva, Bern, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor before receiving a Doctorate in Sociology from La Sorbonne University in Paris. A true world citizen, Pierre has labored most of his life for social justice while living, working, studying in, or visiting 40 countries on every continent. I’ll say hello and launch into asking you about your new book.

I was brought up in a very strict Calvinist family and church and everything was so rigorous. The whole theology was dominated by this concept of sin or so it seemed to me. This wasn’t so much. My father was a wonderful man of whom I have kept the most incredible positive souvenir but it was the church, the parish, and all that stuff.

In high school and in college, there was a biblical group that was so closed. We were praying for our fallen brethren, all those who weren’t in the Bible group. It was so pathetic then I did two years of Theology and completely quit the whole stuff. For ten years, I wandered in the spiritual desert and I came to Ann Arbor to prepare for my doctorate.

There, I was going to three different groups, the Quakers, and a remarkable group that few people remember. It was called The Word of God. I don’t know if you remember in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, a tremendous revival in Christian churches all around the United States petered off. It started with four young students at the University of Michigan praying that the Spirit would defend descend on the campus.

When I arrived, it was one of the largest student movements on campus at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. It was a very large university. When I left, it was the largest student movement on campus and it was amazing. I remember hearing somebody speaking in tongues in that movement and I can still see the person hear what he says in tongues. It’s the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard in my life.

Immediately after, somebody translated what he had said into normal English and it was fabulous. I also started going to a spiritual healing movement. I was a total hypochondriac at this stuff. At the time, I’d grown up in a family where the family doctor was a little god and dependent on medicine. I heard these testaments of students breaking their legs and walking quite normally after three days without anything on their legs whatsoever.

These were amazing testimonies. I started going to this group regularly and then belonged to the movement for a good many years. It was something called Christian Science. I stayed a long time because of the healing and had myself very many amazing healings. I left finally because it was so closed and they had the sense of being the highest revelation in history. That is so terrible, such a weight. I left. I won’t say wandered but I didn’t belong to any movement of any sort but I was still a very keen spiritual seeker.

Now, I found my practice of spirituality but I’ve started in the last few years attending the Quake group in Geneva because I so love staying one hour in silence in a group. It’s not at all the same as having silence in your room in the morning. I have a lot of that but silence in a group has a substance that I love dearly.

I’m my spiritual seeker. I cannot declare a statement of faith as many big religions have. I had two mystical experiences that are the basis of my spirituality. I don’t know if I shared them in my earlier talks with you. One was on a plane, this experience of love. Maybe I’ll repeat them in any case because as you asked me what my spiritual practice is, this is the basis.

I was coming back from Africa, where I was one of the co-founders of what was in the ’70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s the largest grassroots peasant movement in the whole of Africa called the Six S Movement in the Sahel and I was one of the founding members. I enjoyed the meetings of the governing body, which I was a member.

On the last day of the meeting, I caught this entry. The beginning is not a problem. If you don’t take care of it, it can become serious but I was working with my metaphysical formulas and my statements as I usually did when I had any physical problem instead of running to a doctor. It seemed to have calmed down in the evening, but the next day, going to the airport, it started over again. On the plane, I was sitting next to a young unaccompanied boy, studying my mantra, my tapes, my prayers, and all the things I usually do in such cases.

The stewardess taking care of the little boy was so loving. I thought she was his mother. She always came to check if he was okay. At one moment, she came to speak to him in a especially tender way. I felt this woman had an incredible gratitude, which suddenly, became literally a cosmic gratitude. I had an out-of-body experience. I’m sure you know what that is. I was no longer on the plane. I was in a space where there was only the most incredible unconditional love.

Love was the only par, the only law, the only present, the only substance, and the only reason for everything. It was phenomenal. I don’t know how long it lasted because I was out of time and out of space. The most wonderful thing is that Pierre Pradervand had completely disappeared. I had no sense whatsoever of having an ego, a little Swiss passport, and all that. I was just one with this incredible love, which was a solution to all problems.

Suddenly, I came back to the plane. I felt something move in my lower stomach and my entrails and this entry disappeared in a matter of seconds but the real healing was my vision of the world. The next mystical experience was a couple of years ago. I was reading a book by the American mystic, Joel Goldsmith. I’m sure you’ve heard of him. He was a very prolific writer and speaker at the time he was alive. He traveled all over the world.

I was rereading for the fourth time his book simply called The Art of Spiritual Healing. There’s one place in the book where he speaks he received 35 calls for assistance the evening before and that morning. He was in his office in town and he constantly had patients all day long, including between 12:00 noon and 1:00. He looked into his ledger, and for the first time ever, he did not have one single appointment between 12:00 and 1:00 and he thought, “It’s up there that they’ve organized this divine will to organize this. Why? For what reason?”

OYM Pierre | Spiritual Discernment

The Art of Spiritual Healing

He thought, “It’s to plunge into silence.” He plunged into silence and when he came out of it, an hour later, he received calls in the next moments from almost every single person who had asked for help in the present afternoon and evening. Almost every single one had been healed and he did not work for one single one of them.

He just went into silence.

He explains this. It touched me so deeply. I thought, “I would so like to get into this quality of silence.” I plunged into silence and had another amazing experience. Suddenly, I was in a space of perfect harmony, joy, and beauty, lots of greenery and quotes, heaven or perfection, whatever you want to call it. Again, the ego had completely disappeared.

There was this sense of all-pervading harmony saying, “Pierre, that’s where it is at. That’s reality.” I came back. I don’t know how long later, and I’ve stayed with this ever since. That is at least two experiences, my basic sense of spirituality that everything is governed by love. Love is the fundamental law of the universe, both in general terms and individual terms, and a sense that behind the material veil of things, there is only perfect harmony.

Love is the fundamental law of the universe, both in general terms and individual terms. A sense that behind the material veil of things, there is only perfect. Click To Tweet

Joel Goldsmith was an amazing healer because he says that when he started working for someone, let’s say he received a phone call. The first thing he does is forget the name of the person who called him and the problem they were calling about. He plunged into the silence and contact the sense of perfection and people were healed.

That is very similar to what you were doing for years with your Christian science work.

Yes, but I didn’t do it for other people at all.

It’s what you were doing for yourself.

The movement was very narrow and exclusive. That’s what I couldn’t put up with and that’s why I left. Joel Goldsmith didn’t belong to any movement. He created his teaching called The Infinite Way and he’s got a book called The Infinite Way and many other books of his that anyone can find on the internet. What I loved is that he said he completely forgot the name of the person who called him and what the problem was and went into this sense of perfection, where everything is already okay and contacted that level of being so concretely. Automatically, the person was healed. He’s the only person I receive everything. I say, “I don’t belong to any movement or religion of any form,” but I do follow and study the word because he speaks very strongly to me. That’s all.

You decided to write this book to help others if they’re going out on their spiritual path to have some kinds of general guidelines, pitfalls to avoid, and tools they might use. One of the things that strikes me is that you talk about spiritually-transmitted diseases. I thought that was quite cute and they’re the pitfalls to watch out for.

The main thing I’d like to say is that there is no rigid path. Every single religion is a human social construction. Jesus didn’t leave any guidelines for any structure. When one studies the history of the church, one can see how the church until the third century, there was no rigid organization of any sort. In any movement, you have people who take positions of power, guidance, and dominance. The early members of these early churches thought they would like to organize this a little more, rather than having little groups here and there.

The church developed and they developed their criteria of who could become a member and who could not, which had nothing to do or very little with the teachings of Jesus. The churches were purely human construction. I say this with great respect. My father, bless him, was for a quarter of a century, the General Secretary of the World Presbyterian Alliance, as it was called at that time. He visited churches all around the globe. He was amazing. Wherever he was, he would write a handwritten email letter back to the family.

This was amazing because it had a deep impact on me. I was raised in a nice little bourgeois family in a suburb in Geneva with a lovely garden and great peace and no problems of any sort. He’d send these letters and I remember as of now, our mother always used to read them standing up in the kitchen when we came back from school.

I still remember the letter he wrote from Mexico City, saying he’d been in a part of the city where no girl above twelve was a virgin because they were all prostituting themselves to earn money but had families which lived in utter and dire poverty. That was one of my greatest awakenings in life, realizing that everybody didn’t live the way I did. I was little, living in sweet little Geneva and peaceful Switzerland. Some people had a hell of a life. These letters from my father woke me to the world and made me. They were the first buddings of becoming a world citizen.

Which you’ve certainly done in over 40 countries and 4 or more continents.

Very different cultures. Twelve years in Muslim culture, Arabic culture, and Black-African culture, which are very different from nice little middle-class Switzerland. I’m grateful that I’ve lived in the United States. I lived ten years in England and these are very different cultures too.

As you’re talking about in the book, you decided to write this book because you’ve become more aware and without actual hard statistics. It’s your awareness that fewer people are flocking to the churches and more people are pursuing their spiritual path on their own.

It’s so evident that at least in Europe, the churches are more empty. I believe as I say in the book, that sooner or later, organized religions will disappear with the possible exception of Judaism for very specific reasons, tied to our people and the territory. Maybe Islam will be one of the large regions, which will probably resist longest.

By and large, we are evolving as everybody’s aware of ever higher levels of consciousness. One will be that nobody can tell you what right living is. You are the only one able to find it out for yourself if it’s authentically you. Many people live chained to beliefs and structures their whole life because they haven’t been able to free themselves from these structures.

Many people live chained to beliefs and structures their whole life because they haven't been able to free themselves from these structures. Click To Tweet

What you said about your upbringing is similar to mine in the way that I had a very nice family and loving parents. My parents and my grandparents were all of the same Roman Catholic religion. There was a whole level at which the only thing I had been exposed to was the Roman Catholic religion. It’s like what you were talking about with the Christian Science Movement. The only people they allow in their churches are the Christian Science speakers that are on a circuit. It gets to be this restrictive thing.

The Roman Catholic movement was so rigid when I was growing up. They told us, “Don’t even read the Bible because you’ll misinterpret it. Go to the priest and ask questions.” I remember several times in school, I would go and ask the nuns. They’d say, “We can’t answer that. We have to ask Father.” It was all this very narrow funneling of this one mindset.

By the time I went to college, all I knew of was the Roman Catholic church. I didn’t know anything about the Jewish people or their religion. I didn’t know anything about the Muslims. Up until that time, even though I was very much desiring to be a good person and to be in alignment with whatever was divine, I had some narrow definitions for what that might be, and did it explode once an education arrived. When that happens, it’s a wonderful thing to have a book like yours to give someone some guardrails.

They’re just the guardrails on the highway. They don’t tell you which exit to get off of but they keep it from going off a bridge or horrible danger. Regarding some of the tools that you mentioned, the word intention has been a big theme that’s come across in the work that I’ve been doing on the internet show and in our support groups. You’ve got a wonderful story about intention with Mohan. Can you share a little bit about your thoughts about intention and how that story weaves into that?

For me, my intention is to be loved one day, to express love in everything and in every thought. I have a little saying I go over quite a few times during the day, “Creator, bless my mind that every one of my thoughts may come from love. Bless my ears that I hear everything through the channel, the listening of love. Bless my eyes that all I see may be seen with love and bathed in love. Bless my mouth that my every thought, every word come from love. Bless my heart that I may give and receive love. Bless my hands that everything I touch feels love and everything I do is done with love. Bless my feet that I may walk with love and peace upon the earth.” That’s something I like to repeat during the day. It’s the summary of my spirituality. It’s not I believe in this or that. It’s by love. That’s the only reason.

It helps you keep your intention focused.

I like to repeat that I’m a student and still in first-grade primary school on the spiritual path, a little learner. What I have learned has given such joy and depth to my life. I want to continue.

As you talk about in the book, the more you learn, the more you realize how little you know. There are great expanses. When you have an experience as you did on the plane or like you did when reading Joel Goldsmith’s work, you realize there aren’t even any words for what you’ve tapped into and touched. The intention is so important. Can you relay the story of Mohan and Saralah?

It’s one of my favorite stories. Thanks for asking me. There was a seeker in India who was called Mohan, who worked. For many years, he sought for a teacher that could get him on the road. Finally, he found one and he stayed with him for many years working in the master’s fields, keeping the cows in the day, as was the tradition, and studying at the feet of the master.

In the evening time, right?

One day, the master passed on and Mohan hit the road again, looking for the right teacher. One day, he arrives in a village completely exhausted and famished and practically collapses. The villagers take care of him in good shape and as they had no Brahmin in the village, they ask Mohan if he would stay in the village. They would take care of him and he would be able to teach the young people.

Mohan is delighted with his proposition and he does just that. There was one young man in the village called Saralah who had decided that Mohan was the teacher he was seeking for his whole life. He would do all the errands he could for Mohan and he would always be prowling around Mohan’s hut to the point that it irritated Mohan who thought Saralah was a rather simplistic fellow. He’d never get very fast spiritually and unbeknownst to Mohan, Saralah slept on the doorstep of Mohan’s hut because what he was awaiting was the famous mantra.

The mantra in India is something very important on the spiritual part. Every serious student receives the mantra from his teacher. Mohan wakes up in the middle of the night and feel the need to go to the toilet, which was in the fields. He hits Saralah on the doorstep. Saralah wakes up and jumps up. Mohan, irritated, says, “Go out of the village.” The first thing he says is, “Always you. Go out of the village and don’t come back until I call you.” Saralah is quite convinced that the, “Always you,” is the famous mantra he’d been waiting.

He runs out of the village, his heart singing with joy, “Always you.” He travels for days, for weeks, for months, and for years with nothing else in his mind but always you. One day, he arrives in a village where a widow has lost her only son, a teenager. Here, the situation of widows has always been very difficult, especially if they had no other children. This was her only son and they’d put a pyre where you burn people. He was on top of the pyre and Saralah arrives and people feel something so special in this man.

He radiates a light, a gentleness, and they ask him, “Could you pray for the resurrection of this boy?” Saralah says, “I’ve never resurrected anyone but I can repeat the mantra my teacher Mohan taught me.” Unbeknownst to Saralah, he made a circuit of thousands of kilometers in India. It was a few miles from his home village. He settled the foot of the park and just plunges into this, “Always you.” Suddenly, the boy sits up, totally surprised to be on this pyre. He climbs down and the whole village shouts, “Miracle.” They all bring a few pennies, necklaces, pieces of jewelry, tiny pieces of gold, whatever they had, and put them in the feet of Saralah.

Saralah says, “My friends, it is not me. It is my teacher, Mohan, who taught me this mantra.” As I said a moment ago, the village was very close to Mohan’s Village and the villages run off to Mohan. They all arrive at the same time at his house. They’re all shouting and explaining. Mohan can’t understand anything. All he gets is that one of his students supposedly had raised a boy from the dead.

He knew perfectly well that he was incapable of doing anything like that. He couldn’t think of anyone of his students who would ever be capable of this. He asks the villagers, “What is the student’s name?” They say, “Saralah.” Suddenly, Mohan remembers he had a student years ago called Saralah. He tells them, “Go and tell Saralah that I’m awaiting him.” The villagers all run back. Saralah had left. He was on the road but it was very easy to catch him up. The villagers tell Saralah, “Your teacher, Mohan, is calling for you.” Do you remember what Mohan told Saralah?

“Don’t come back until I call you.”

For him, it was the perfect day, the day of illumination. His teacher had called him back and he rushes. He hurries back to Mohan and falls at the feet of Mohan. Mohan gently raises him up and says, “The villagers told me that you raised a young boy from the dead.” “Master, I did nothing but repeat the mantra you told me. Always you.” Suddenly, Mohan remembers that famous night.

He tripped on him.

He yells in anger when he trips on Saralah, “Always you. Go from the village and never come back until I call you.” Here you are in a moment of incredible humility. Maybe the first in his life, Mohan falls defeat of Saralah and looks up to his face and says, “Master, teach me.” That’s my favorite spiritual story.

It’s all about intention. It’s a beautiful tie-in to your little prayer of, “Bless my thoughts. Bless my ears. Bless my eyes and my mouth.” If I’m choosing to see through the eyes of love and to hear everything through the filter of love, that’s essentially what Saralah did. The book has some wonderful stories. It’s a rather brief book for your standards but it is a beautiful collection of these stories. What’s another part of the book that you’d like to highlight for us as we talk about the tools and/or the spiritually transmitted diseases?

I coined this term spiritually transmitted diseases because there are so many of them. We are in a world that’s never before. There are so many teachings and paths in all areas. Byron Katie said so rightly many years ago, that the main problem in our society is not war, hunger, fighting in groups, or political dissent. It’s confusion. I feel that. This is a woman I admire greatly. I followed a workshop with her once in Cleveland. For me, she is a great dame of personal development in the United States. She’s one of the greatest figureheads for me.

That statement is so true of our world. That’s why I and so many people are confused in all areas, including spirituality. One of the reasons I wrote this book is to give very simple guidelines to people so that they could find their own spiritual part. For some, it will mean joining a movement. For others, it will be like it has been for me now for years, following their own spiritual intuition.

I spend a lot of time. I spend every morning normally, at least an hour and a half, preparing spiritually for the day. Constantly, through the day, I’m trying to remind myself to come back to love as in the little story I told a little moment ago. For me, it’s so simple. True spirituality is so simple. When you read the gospel, Jesus didn’t develop any theology of any sort. He gave very simple statements and left us incredible promises but always so simple.

OYM Pierre | Spiritual Discernment

Spiritual Discernment: True spirituality is so simple. When you read the gospel, Jesus didn’t develop any theology of any sort. He gave very simple statements and left us incredible promises but always so simple.

That simplicity can help as an antidote to your confusion. The big thing that I get from your book that comes across so clearly is that you talk about how religions are primarily based on looking outside yourself to some authority figure. What you’re recommending is a series of guidelines people can use to find their way into the guidance that’s going to come from their own heart center.

To be their own authority. When I say to be their own authority, I’m not pampering the ego because if this happens when the ego has been reduced to its smallest dimension, when you become your own authority, it’s not to the ego of Pierre Pradervand, for instance. It’s to the highest vision that Pierre has and that is one of infinite love.

You talk about that as necessarily feelings-based, not thought-based.

I was brought up in a religion we had to believe things this way and that. It was all on the level of mind and nothing on the level of the heart. I hardly ever heard the word heart pronounced. For me, it is the center of authentic spirituality. It is in the heart, not in the brain.

What other point or a couple of points do you want to make to try and whet people’s appetite for this book, The Gentle Art of Spiritual Discernment?

OYM Pierre | Spiritual Discernment

The Gentle Art of Spiritual Discernment: A Guide to Discovering Your Personal Path

I live more in a permanent sense of gratitude, not only because I live in a peaceful country. I have a little apartment and a beautiful little garden. I earn a very modest income but it’s sufficient. That’s a choice I made. It’s sufficient to live a simple life, which has been my ideal for close to 60 years now. I find constantly opportunities for gratitude and expressing appreciation.

Often, to the person who sells goods in a supermarket, thank her for that smile or gentleness. I thank the bus driver for having driven us safely. People are not used to that. I remember a saleslady to whom I said something especially nice. I don’t remember exactly but she said, “In 30 years in the job, nobody has ever said something like that to me.”

A simple word of appreciation is so limitless and you don’t know what it can mean to someone. It can become a support, trying to find opportunities to express appreciation. It always comes from the heart and never from the mind. I live in constant gratitude because hour by hour, while I was in my garden, I had lunch in my garden. I felt such gratitude because it was a beautiful day and everything was quiet and green. You can invent so many opportunities to say thank you and to feel grateful.

I hear in my mind as I’ve had many times over the years when I talk about that or somebody else talks about that the ego or the other chattering mind wants to say, “That’s because you have this beautiful apartment, and this simple life and it’s peaceful.” You have firsthand experience with some dark knight of the ego. A lot of people call it dark knight of the soul but from the way of mastery, it’s not really a dark night of the soul. It’s the awakening of the soul and it’s the dark night of the ego.

You talk about people like Roger McGowen and how he’s had extraordinarily challenging and abusive situations. He’s learned the benefit of practicing gratitude and your blessing practice. It’s not an empty thing that is useful only if my life is going well. It’s a very powerful tool for the darkest times as well.

I’ve had my dark knight like everybody.

You talk about that in this book.

Many years ago, I was crazy enough to leave the most wonderful woman in the world, my wife. I went through absolute total hell. For four years, I was in a deep depression. Now, I have gained very good warm relations with this person who I admire the most on the whole planet because she runs a foundation for women and children at 83. She’s running world campaigns. It’s incredible. All I can say now for everything is thank you.

How did you first come to know of Roger McGowen? How did you get involved with him?

It’s very simple. In 1996, one of his correspondents in Zurich contacted me at the suggestion of a friend of hers. I don’t know at all why she contacted me. I don’t know why this gentleman gave her my name because I’d never heard of Roger McGowan. I’d never had anything to do with the death penalty. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice had fixed the date of execution to put him to death. She’d been corresponding with him for years. She thought, “That cannot be.”

She studied looking for people to contribute to the hiring of a lawyer. The story she told me touched me so deeply. I put $3,000 into her account so that we could hire a lawyer and she managed to put off the date of execution but not the death penalty. I started corresponding with Roger because the story she told me moved me so much. Immediately, our correspondent took on a very special light for me.

After 2 or 3 years, I thought, “I can’t keep these letters for myself. They belong to the cultural heritage of humanity.” I have an extraordinary publisher, an amazing man who’s never refused a single manuscript I’ve presented to him in 25 years. He accepted to publish a book that was totally out of anything he’d ever published. The book was a real success. People started sending in money. One woman sent in $50,000. From reading that book so deeply, she was so touched.

Is that book The Messages of Life from Death Row?

OYM Pierre | Spiritual Discernment

The Messages of Life from Death Row

Yes. We were able to hire a good lawyer who got him off death row. The lawyer was able to challenge the death penalty and now he’s in another prison. He’s changing a prison of 2,500 inmates. Over the years, this book has had such an incredible impact. Some time ago, I received a letter from Thailand, from an African inmate in the Bang Kwang Central Prison, which is the worst prison in Thailand. He’s been incarcerated there also as he tells me for a crime he had not committed.

He was at the depth of depression and hell. Tell me by what miracle he found Roger’s book in French in Bang Kwang Central Prison in Thailand. Only somebody up there, as I say in French, on the first floor would be able to explain. That book totally transformed him. It pulled him completely out of his state of depression.

He wrote to me and now he has different correspondents and there’s been amnesty. A friend of mine who corresponds with him still now told me he’s out of prison. What was the impact? Amazing was the impact of Roger’s book. I see Roger. I had been visiting him every single year since 1999 and he’s become 1 of my 2 closest friends.

Also, a spiritual teacher to many.

To me, also, a spiritual example. When we first met in the early century, he used to say, “Pierre, you pulled me forward.” Now the roles have been reversed for quite a few years. He pulls me and many others forward.

I’m not sure if you mentioned him in The Gentle Art of Blessing but certainly in the 365 Blessings to Heal Myself and the World. All three of these books, The Gentle Art of Blessing, 365 Blessings to Heal Myself and the World, and your book on spirituality, The Gentle Art of Spiritual Discernment is due to be released in July of 2023. I’m looking forward to that and the next few books you write. It’s your moves too.

That will come. My next book will be Living Without Judging. I’m writing it in French. I don’t know if I’ll find an American publisher but it’s a topic that’s very close to my heart and one that I live completely. I live without judging and it’s so simple, once you found, not the trick.

It’s a tool.

The tool is to realize that every single person, including Trump and Putin, are at their highest level of judgment, given the circumstances of their life, their past history, and everything. When you see that, you cannot judge anymore.

Every single person is at their highest level of judgment, given the circumstances of their life, their history, and everything. When you see that, you cannot judge anymore. Click To Tweet

Especially when you have some insight and you have some out-of-body experience or those spiritual experiences. When you get an inkling that there is so much more going on here than you have any idea about, then you realize at a new level how silly it is to judge because you have nothing to base it on except this very limited sphere of perception.

I’m excited to hear about that book. We’ve been talking about this idea of judgment. I was interviewing a young woman who’s written a couple of nice books about ending her addictive process and putting together a healthy vibrant life. In the second interview, I found myself talking about this addiction we have to judging and every other addiction we realize whatever the drug that we need to abstain from it.

What would it be like for me to abstain from judging? We were talking about that. What tools can I put in place to help myself recognize when I’ve judged and then choose to release it? I will look forward to your book with great relish. Have you got a closing blessing for us that we can send people off with one of your favorites?

I’ll compose one. No, I don’t have.

I was thinking, do you remember the blessing you have in the book for spiritual seekers?

Out of 365 blessings, I can’t remember.

If you would be so kind, could you compose a blessing for us to end?

I bless you in your reading with guidance from above. I bless you in the deep sincerity of your quest for finding your own spiritual path. I bless you in your deep understanding. Whatever the path you choose, it starts by loving yourself unconditionally. Whatever the part, be it a special brand of Sufism or some esoteric Christian or Buddhist branch of this or that movement, before anything else, your first part is one of learning to love yourself. When you love yourself, you let go of so many weights that could hamper your search for your own spiritual path and your own spiritual teaching. May you be infinitely blessed as you are on the path that we are.

When you love yourself, you let go of so many weights that could hamper your search for your own spiritual path, your own spiritual teaching. Click To Tweet

Thank you so much and may you be blessed in your path, your intention, and your prolific writing, which has blessed us all.

I am. Thank you for this moment of sharing. Goodbye.

Thank you. Blessings.

Pierre Pradervand studied at the universities of Geneva, Bern, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor before receiving a Doctorate in Sociology from La Sorbonne University in Paris. A true world citizen, Pierre has labored most of his life for social justice while living, working, studying in, or visiting 40 countries on every continent. From his Geneva home, Pierre is now active as a writer, speaker, and life coach, helping people to live simpler, yet richer, more contented lives.

He provides personal development tools that empower attendees to strengthen their internal anchors and advance on their spiritual path. Pierre is also an independent celebrant for weddings, burials, and other events. He is the author of more than twenty books, including The Gentle Art of Blessing and 365 Blessings to Heal Myself and the World. His most recent book is titled The Gentle Art of Spiritual Discernment.

 

Important Links

 

Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!

Join the On Your Mind Community today:
Journey's Dream

Journey's Dream

Used to select this used (Journey's Dream) as Author of the On Your Mind Podcasts

Leave a Reply